Philosophy of Science: My Personal Fantasticism
Performancism: the value and character of our performances; whether we succeed or fail, what our standards of success and failure are, and how they are formed (publication) :Performancism goes even further, saying that rather than saying anything about the ''Ding An Sich, ''the thing-in-itself, all of our knowledge can only address our own actual performances and their results; what we put into the black box, and what comes out: nothing else. We can never know the Ultimate Rules of Reality, but only the Ultimate Rules of the Game we are playing with it, whether that game is small (Tic-tac-toe, Chess, Go), medium (Axis and Allies, AD&D, Runescape, World of Warcraft), large (Wikileaks, Threat or Menace?!?), or really huge (The Standard Model, now with Higgs' Bosons!). Functionalism: our methodologies of performance, practices, forms, algorithms, the recipes, regulations, etc. (ink on paper) Instrumentalism: the tools and implements by which a function is performed; the symbolic calculus of substance (quill pen and ink; manual printing press; mechanical printing press, carbon paper; xerography; scan, email, and transmit for printing) Objectivism: the goals we can reasonably set, the rewards we can expect, and the risks that are entailed (contributing to human knowledge, being recognized as a great philosopher, being burned at the stake like Bruno) Realism: expectations and limits; presumes there is a substantive study as to the nature of our reality (Is my existence as a philosopher real? Does anyone else give a crap?) Ultimatism: the final set of fundamental rules of Life, the Universe, and Everything (Shirley! Surely there must be a final set of fundamental physical laws! Maybe something that fits on two stone tablets, or a hitchhiker's guide? That would be handy!) Fantasticism: allegories, analogies, synthesis, and first approximations; the stories we tell ourselves and others long before a formal study can begin ("I am the smartest person in the whole world, and I will become famous for my keen philosophical insights!"); right up there with alchemy, astrology, and a bunch of other crap that turned out better than it started Rhetoricism: arguments, analysis, and criticism; any real attempt to sway (or dissuade) others concerning any subject at all; begging for research funds, a better grade in class, or groveling for a scholarship or tenure (Talk about my pages with everyone you know! Now! On Facebook! On Twitter! On Google Circles! On Dasher! On Dancer!... oh, wait.) Full circle: Note that rhetoric itself is a performance that can succeed or fail, and therefore the system as I wish to present it is circular and closed. I've left you a great deal of room to flesh it out with your own thoughts, and please feel free to be critical... that's part of the process by design! P:D (What a Performance I gave! And I completely slapped together my own Fantastic Functions! Using just my crappy terminal at the library and my own giiianormous brain as Instruments! It seemed such a modest Objective, and yet... look how awesomely it fulfills goals others can only dream of! Did I Really manage to convey such a magnificent Rhetoric in such a crude medium as common english?!? Just think what other truly awesome arguments must then be possible within it's Ultimate rules of grammar and syntax!1!! Verily and forsooth!!!! P:D )